Special Unpaid Leave

What’s it for? 

To help you deal with unexpected one-off events that need a swift period of additional leave, but don’t necessitate an enduring change to your pattern of work.

What do I get?

Special Unpaid Leave is a period of absence of up to 93 days at any one time, which cannot be given as Special Paid or Compassionate Leave. Authority to grant Special Unpaid Leave rests with Commanding Officers.

If repeated periods of Special Unpaid Leave are required, you should consider alternative measures to meet your need.

Periods of Special Unpaid Leave can have a negative impact on reckonable service calculations for the purpose of promotion, increments of pay, retired pay, pension or gratuity or for reckoning the eligibility for other types of leave - except where permitted by current regulations.

Other things to consider

It is possible to take Special Unpaid Leave for as short as one day, but it cannot be used to create a routine pattern of absence – this can be done by applying for Flexible Service instead.

How do I apply for this?

Speak to your Line Manager or Unit HR/Personnel Office and then apply on JPA, following instructions in the ‘Absences (flexible working)’ self-service user guide (which can be found at JPA User Guides and Forms on defnet).